Air France Will Offer Flights to Washington With Airbus A380

Europe’s one of the biggest carriers, Air France has announced recently that it will start flying between Paris and Washington DC using an Airbus A380 aircraft.

At present, Air France is using Boeing B777 on flights to Washington and return. The airline is offering twice-daily service between the two cities, which will be reduced to once-daily flights using the larger aircraft by June 2011.

A spokes person for Air France stated at that the airline is looking forward to rationalizing its frequencies on these busy routes by combining two flights which leave at similar times while offering the same seat capacity at a 20% reduction in operating costs. The cost-cutting will sure help the carrier to bring cheap airfares to Washington in the coming year taking the competition to a whole new level.

According to the planned schedule, Air France flight number AF028 will leave Paris Charles de Gaulle at 10.40am, arriving into Washington at 1 pm starting from June 06, 2011. On the return route, the Flight number AF 039 will leave Washington at 4.25pm, arriving into Paris at 5.45am the next day (schedule may subject to change please recheck with the airline).

Washington will be Air France’s second US destination to be operated using the superjumbo after it started using the plane on the Paris-New York route a year ago. The airlines’ formerly launched flights to New York are a success.

At this occasion, Air France’s senior vice president Americas, Patrick Roux, said:

With Washington, three of the five destinations served by Air France’s A380 during summer 2011 will be in North America”. He added: “This effectively illustrates the airline’s investment in the North trans- Atlantic network. The A380, highly appreciated by our customers, will strengthen our assets on one of the world’s most competitive markets.